How do I drop a function if it already exists?

Question

I know this must be simple, but how do I preface the creation of a function with a check to see if it already exists? If it exists, I want to drop and re-create it.

Answer 1

IF EXISTS (     SELECT * FROM sysobjects WHERE id = object_id(N'function_name')      AND xtype IN (N'FN', N'IF', N'TF') )     DROP FUNCTION function_name GO 

If you want to avoid the sys* tables, you could instead do (from here in example A):

IF object_id(N'function_name', N'FN') IS NOT NULL     DROP FUNCTION function_name GO 

The main thing to catch is what type of function you are trying to delete (denoted in the top sql by FN, IF and TF):

• FN = Scalar Function
• IF = Inlined Table Function
• TF = Table Function